Baseball stadium (야구장, 棒球场)

August has been a long month, which makes sense considering it has the maximum amount of days, 31, but also because it has such long days (sun is up all the time). The old Japanese name for it is 葉月（はづき, , or Month of the leaves, because apparently it used to be associated with the time leaves started falling, but for me it's more appropriate to call it the long month, which was assigned to September of all months. August 31 was the last day this year for fireworks at Durham Bulls Stadium, significant because we live right outside the stadium and can see the fireworks going off on Friday and Saturday night, free entertainment and a reminder that this is one of the only things that goes on in a small town like Durham.

Visiting Bulls stadium reminded me of why I engaged in a 10-day baseball stadium trip in 2014: it's fun to go to each and every stadium, and each stadium has its own identify, its own unique characteristics, and minor league stadiums are even more intimate, and you can get much closer to the players than major league ballparks. Also, the $9.50 price of a ticket (on Saturday night no less!) is nice. In my opinion the best time for a baseball game is an evening game, right before sunset times. That way you can enjoy the feel of both day baseball and night baseball, you can see the lights come on and take effect, you can get awesome views of a glorious sunset from all parts of the stadium, and you can avoid the unrelenting heat of the sun bearing down on you in your seat. And you can possibly have fireworks at night! A perfect experience, which is what MJ and I got today on the last day of August. Oh, I should mention I don't like actually "sitting" at a baseball game, I view my ticket as just an admission ticket, not an assignment to a seat, because at any baseball game I'm active, I'm outside, it's like a walk in the park or a trip to Disneyland, I want to get to different angles, see the different concessions, etc. MJ and I didn't sit down a single time today at the game, nor did we use the restrooms, which probably would have ruined the experience. And we weren't the only Asian people in the stadium!